Clamp for permanent waving apparatus



July 18, 1950 o. A. HARRELL 2,515,512

CLAMP RoR PERMANENT wAvING APPARATUS Filed June' 18, 1947 Patented July 18, 1950 OFFICE CLAMP FOR PERMANENT WAVING APPARATUS Oliver A. Harrell, Little Rock, Ark.

Application June 18, 1947, Serial No. 755,519

My invention relates to a clamp for use in permanent Waving apparatus, and it is an object of the same to provide a clamp of that type which shall be so constructed as to protect patrons from the heat of the waving apparatus. In' the use of the known apparatus wherein heat is employed to set curls of hair by the use of steam, it is necessary to heat the hair-engaging parts to atleast 212 Fahr, in order to vaporize the liquid used for treatment of the hair and to cause the hair to become set in curls or waves. In conventional apparatus the heat is so used that much of it escapes and impinges on the skin of the patron, thereby becoming very oppressive and unpleasant in the course of the time required for the treatment necessary in order to curl the hair. 'I'he principal object of the invention, therefore, is to provide such an arrangement of parts that the heat and steam may be kept away from the patron and confined to the space Where they will be useful.

Another object of the invention is to provide a clamp which will be equally effective and satisfactory for treatmentv of large and small curls, so that the same clamps can be used on all parts of the head, regardless of the length of the hair or the size ofthe curl produced thereby.

It will be understood that the clamp of my invention can be used with any type of curl, such as spiral or croquignole.

Another object of the invention is to provide a compact and convenient device, which shall have manufacturing advantages in the way of cheapness and ease of assembly.

Referring to the drawings, which are made a part of this application and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of my device illustrating its method of use;

Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 3, a Vertical cross Section on line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4, a bottom plan;

Fig. 5, an end elevation; and

Fig. 6, a perspective of a spring element forming a part of my device.

In the drawings, reference character I indicates a supporting element or block preferably formed ofl insulating material such as hard rubber or the like which has connected to its lower end a heater comprising a shell II of aluminum or similar light metal, said shell being of ap` proximately semi-cylindrical form and having the support I0 extending lengthwise thereof and mounted on the rear side of the heater.

5 Claims. (Cl. 132-36) At the underside of the shell there is a concentric semi-cylindrical member I2 formed of steel or other heat-conducting material and having its ends and side edges bent over the oiset end and side flanges of the shell II to lock the shells together, as best shown in Fig. 1. A heating element I3 ts between the inner and outer shells II and I2, and is confined thereby.

The support I 0 has flat sides and isi-lat at the top. A resilient member, best shown in Fig. 6, has a flat upper portion I4 adapted to rest` on the upper end of the block I0, said member also having a depending ange I5 completely encircling the block IB, and further having depending wings I6 and I'I lying against the parallel opposite sides of block Ill approximately down to the outer shell I I, but out of contact therewith. The depending anges I6 and I'I are bent outwardly before reaching the outer shell II, into a shape such as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, they being first inclined away from the block Ill, then down in substantial parallelism to one another to a point below the parallel lower edges of the inner shell I2, andthen being bent sharply inward at approximately right-angles to the last-mentioned portions of the spring member at right-'angles to a plane passing vertically through the midlength of the device, thus forming clamping edges I8 and I9. The upper hat portion I4 of the spring member has openings 2!! for a purpose to be described, and the parallel side p0rtions of the depending flanges have perforations 2i for application of rivets 22 by means of which angular brackets 23 are attached to the spring element, said brackets in turn being attached by rivets 24 to finger-pieces 25 of hard rubber or the like for the purpose of protecting the operators against the heat which may be radiated to the handles provided for opening the clamp members, which members are urged toward closed position by the resiliency of the spring member to be described.

The portions of the spring member which are adjacent the heater are so shaped andspaced therefrom that they will always be out of lContact with the heater and it will be noted that the space between the edges I8 and I9 is relatively narrow so as to limit the escape of heat or `hot vapor from the clamp or from the lower side of the curl 26 toward the scalp, it being understood thatthe tress 2G of hair is held between protector bars 3|, 3| that may be of any desirable or conventional character, and that the tress is or may be saturated with any suitable curling preparation. It is also to be understood that a conventional pad 3 21 of cotton flannel or the like, will be used between the heater and the curl of hair, said flannel being protected in conventional manner by means of a strip 28 of tinfoil or the like. The tress is here shown as being wound on a spindle 29 that is provided at one end with a ratchet 30 for engagement with a pawl (not shown) to maintain the tress in wound-up condition. It will be noted that the edges I8 and I9 approach rather closely to one another and to the curl on the spindle 29. The limited space between these edges is filled partly by the depending edges of the pad 2'I and the tinfoil 23, as well as by the portion of the tress intermediate between the spindle and the scalp of the customer, besides which the parts 42, 42 of the clamp are interposed between the heating device and the scalp, thus providing an addiv sulating material, e. g. the parts 3| may be made of wood, whereas the parts 32 consist of felt, all of which helps to protect the scalp from the action of heat. The element I 3 is electrically heated by means now to be described.

Upon the flat upper face I4 of the spring member, there are superposed a spacer 35 and a cap 34 having bores aligned with those of block I 0 to receive bolts 35' having nuts 39 thereon to secure the-parts together, the heads of the bolts being slotted to receive a screw-driver and being engaged in openings in the upper shell I I. Thus it will be seen that the parts I0, 35 and 34 are fixed toshell I I, which in turn'is secured to lower shell I2, and these shells hold the heat element I3 securely since said element ts in the cavity between said shells. Conductors 33, 38, are secured to posts 30 ext-ending through registering apertures in the blocks mounted on the heater, and a third conductor il is connected to part I5 by ineans'of an interposed coil spring 4|,.said conductor lill being intended to form a ground to the frame of the machine in case of a short circuit or other mishap to the circuit formed through the conductors 38.

A11 important factor of my construction is the spring member shown in Fig. 6, which can be stamped in the shape shown and serves the purposes indicated. Furthermore, the depending ilange IE surrounding the block I greatly strengthens said member and prevents accidental separation from the block III or such weakening of the spring as would permit the edges I8 and I9 to spread. unduly, so as, e. g., to release block I0. It will be noted that by reason of the semicylindrical shape of the heater and the shape of the end portions 42 of the clamp, and the direction of movement ci edges I8 and I9, the heater is pulled downward relative to the bar 29, as a result of which the clamp is eectively applied to the curl on the spindle. This is particularly useful in the case of a small curl, since the close approach of the clamping edges not only forces the lower edges of the ilannel pad closely about the curl, but also tends to draw the heater down upon curl while drawing the entire assembly closely about the spindle.

Since the spring member IB is insulated from the heater by the rubber block I0 and is spaced from the heater at all other points, it follows that there is no metal-to-metal contact or connection 4 between these parts, and the clamp blades are effectively heat-insulated from the heater. As a matter of fact, actual tests have shown that the clamping blades do not heat up to more than F. when the heater and associated parts are heated to 212 F.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes may be made in the device herein disclosed, all without departing from the spirit of the invention; and rtherefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawing and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A hair waving appliance comprising a heater shaped as a segment of a cylinder, a heat insulating block at the convex side thereof, an integral sheet metal spring having a portion fitting about and on the sides of said insulating block and having jaws with opposed thin clamping edges in parallelism to the longitudinal axis of said segment, said jaws being swingable from an open position for receiving a spindle wrapped with hair to a closed position Where their opposed edges approach close to each other and press the heater against said wrapped spindle.

2. A device as in claim 1, wherein the end of the block remote from the heater is hat and the spring includes a flat end portion tting against the iiat end ol the block.

3. A device as in claim 2, including a depending ange on said flat end portion of the spring encircling the adjacent -end of the block.

4. A device as in claim 2, including a spacer resting on the flat end portion of the spring, a cap on the spacer, and means passing through the cap, the spacer and the block for securing them to the heater.

5. In a hair waving appliance, the combination of a heating member in the form of a segment of a cylinder, said heating member being adapted to receive a spindle with hair wound thereon, an oblong block extending from the con- Vex face of the heating member, said block having a flat end remote from said heater, and an integral sheet metal spring having a portion encircling said block and another portion tting on the said end of the block, said spring being divided at its end remote from said stern to form resilient wings with thin inturned clamping edges movable toward each other in arcuate paths for pressing said heater towards a wrapped spindle.

OLIVER A. I-IARRELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,756,837 Shelton Apr. 29, 1930 1,778,870 Shelton Oct. 21, 1930 1,790,879 Shelton Feb. 3, 1931 1,848,205 Shelton Mar. '8, 1932 1,933,847 Frederics Nov. 7, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 473,189 Great Britain Oct. 4, 1937 

